Now this is very good news

Glad to see obscure but significant aircraft find the light of day!

Hi Mal and Bill I reckon this could be Silver Wings' "breakthrough" kit. If they nail this one, they'll be selling them as fast they can pack them. All the best Rowan

That surface detail looks fantastic and the fact that they refused to even contemplate releasing this kit until they had perfected the surface bodes well for this and future releases. Mine will be finished in the markings of (I forget his name [Guyns or something like that]) but he was the pilot who scored the first allied kill (kills I think as he downed 2 Dornier Do 17?). I'm rely looking forward to this, decals will be an issue over the surface detail so I will have to find some paint masks

Hi Holdfast and All, that will surely be Władysław Gnyś, you'll find more about him here: LINK Best, Hubert

Thanks for that Hubert, I'm guessing that the decals for his machine will be included, why wouldn't the be I feel an affinity to Polish flyers of WWII as my uncle was Polish and flew in the RAF; tenuous I know but did enjoy talking to him, even though I was a youngster

Because very little is known about his aircraft, there are no photographs of it or records that identify it. In the 1990's an article was published in Finescale Modeller with 1/72 scale models of all the participants. The markings for Gnyś 's and Medwecki's aircraft were mostly conjecture. Aeromaster produced a decal sheet for the Mirage 1/48 model (must be getting on for ten years ago) that included both Gnyś's and Medwecki's machines which were based on the Finescale article. This is the only time, to my knowledge, that markings for these aircraft have even been issued commercially. I have reservations of them, mainly the buzz codes that have two digits. In August 1939 the buzz codes were changed, probably as part of the mobilisation, to three digits. The two digit codes may be a good guess for pre-August but might not reflect the ones carried on 1st September. As to it being the first Allied victory there are other contenders and it all basically comes down to the exact time. There is also some speculation that the Dorniers were shot down by AAA. An there is an account here: LINK Gnyś's own account. "A day before the war started our squadron was moved from our permanent base at Rakowice to our wartime airfield at Balice. At night we positioned our aircraft around the periphery of the field and our mechanics covered them with tree branches to camouflage them from German reconnaissance aircraft. We stayed in a big house not too far from the airfield. On 1st September it was still dark when I suddenly woke up by a tremendous noise and explosions going off. I looked out and I saw Rakowice and Krakow were in flames. Immediately after I heard Capt. Medwecki, our commander, shouting that we have been attacked by Germany and that war was started and ordering us to our aircraft. I ran toward the airfield and, as I was passing Capt. Medwecki he ordered me to take off with him. As I was running at full speed, I noticed that my mechanic had already started my P.l lc. I jumped into the cockpit, put my parachute on, and noticed our commander already taking off. When we were about 200-300 feet above the ground I saw tracers of bullets in front of me. I looked to the right and I saw two Stukas firing. I dove down to dodge them and almost touched the trees with my wheels. Realizing that I was very low I gently pulled up and, just as I started climbing I noticed Capt Medwecki's aircraft swaying. I instantly realized that he was hit and was badly wounded. Suddenly another Stuka, not one of the pair I saw before because they had already passed, but still another Stuka appeared in front of me. I aimed and fired. The distance was short and is possible that I hit him. However, I never claimed that I destroyed him because I wasn't sure. I didn't see anything exploding or hitting the ground. I knew that the rest of the German aircraft would now be returning to their bases, so I climbed to gain altitude' because the speed of German bombers was faster than that of our fighters, we didn't have a chance to catch them at the same height. We had to have advantage of altitude in order to attack them. I continued climbing, and when I reached 700 meters, on my left and below I noticed two Dorniers in formation flying west. I dove and attacked one. The gunner was firing at me, but I came very close and hit him with my second burst. I immediately attacked the second one, again from short range. I noticed that the two aircraft were very close to each other and were about to collide, and that the one I attacked first was smoking badly. But because I came very close to them, I had to dive quickly towards the ground to avoid collision. However, as I started climbing again, I turned around and I saw something burning on the ground. I did not waste my time checking it out, but I continued climbing. In a short while I noticed another aircraft passing me, flying west at my altitude. I aimed, opened fire, but my ammunition had run out. I turned around and flew back to my base. As I was landing, I saw a P.llc burning on the edge of the airfield. It was Capt. Medwecki's aircraft." Both Dorniers attacked by Lt. Gnyś crashed, littering the village of Zwada with smouldering debris. The wrecks were investigated by Polish officers who photographed them and took documents and parts of the Dorniers to Krakow for study. These records survived the war and provide a record of Lt. Gnyś victories.

Thanks for that Antoni, so I will be able to decide the markings for myself, even better

I'm sure that Silver Wings would appreciate any info on these markings so they can include them in the kit! Doug